Keith Spano, president of Flooring America and Flooring Canada, is understandably enthusiastic. Just weeks before convention, the company has come off of its “Friends Send Friends” mobile tour which allows Spano and his team the opportunity to engage one-on-one with members and their customers across the country. And he has a lot of exciting initiatives to talk about with his members both in the U.S. and Canada.

Spano, who came to Flooring America after a stint at Avalon Carpet, said, “Over the last two years, we’ve changed the voice of Flooring America and Flooring Canada. It’s about being the most recommended flooring store across America. It’s where friends send friends. Everyone can talk about being the best, the best selection, the cheapest.” What he wants is for the experience to be so positive that customers not only tell their friends about it but actually refer them to Flooring America stores.

Part of his strategy includes changes in the team running the co-op. The newest member of Flooring America management is Jeff Schwalb, previously with a large retailer in St. Louis. Schwalb started mid-June and holds the post of vice president of merchandising.

“We’ve changed a lot of our team through natural progression. It’s a different vibe now,” said Spano. “The word is getting out that we are different, even within (parent company) CCA.”

In fact, Spano considers Flooring America a marketing/merchandising group. “Our job is to protect our members and give them the ability to increase their profitability and close rates and give them the tools to do that.”

One such tool is a new partnership with Stanley Steemer, a household name in carpet cleaning. The companies cross pollinate by attending each other’s conventions and advertising each other’s brand to consumers. Noted Spano, “This program is starting to get legs. It’s a great strategic partnership, a fantastic relationship. Why not partner with the best name in cleaning?”

Spano said that there are a host of things the company does that aren’t product driven. A prime example is the co-op’s real estate division that saved members more than $12 million in rent reductions over the past five years. “We have programs in place to significantly reduce dumpster fees, reduced fuel expenses for your vehicles, reduce office supply expenses, phone bills, etc. — saving our members real money on real costs they endure every month.”

Embracing technology

The company is at the forefront of technology and works hard to bring its members everything they need to succeed in today’s market and beyond. “We need to work smarter, not harder. Our members already work harder than anybody,” said Spano.

That philosophy prompted Flooring America to put 300 iPads out in the field last year with the goal of having an iPad in every member’s hand. “We’ve created an iPad app that is awesome. Our members can scan an order right through the iPad,” he said. Members are now being urged to bring their devices to convention because that will be paperless.

There is also an app, My Floor Story, which allows consumers to recommend, review and give testimonials. The app is but one way the company ties technology to its overarching goal of being the most recommended flooring store.

Flooring America Social Tools (FAST) is its local social marketing management team. “That’s our engagement. We do everything from Facebook, Twitter. LinkedIn — we create content,” said Spano.

FAST is in its third iteration. The first step, said Spano, was Tweeting for members, then came Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube. Now the company has added Pinterest which, he said, is going terrific. “The fact that we have a social media platform where we syndicate content for our members and layer on their own hyper-local content is best of both worlds. It allows us to do the heavy lifting for them,” said Spano.

Flooring America was among the first to embrace new technology and media so fully. “Our members are very engaged and probably a little more tech savvy than on average,” said Spano. “And, even if the store owner didn’t understand, the manager or someone in the store did.”

Customer Assessment Sales Helper (CASH) is a professional sales tool for the iPad or tablet to help qualify customers and guide sales people to match customers with the right product and help to improve their close rates. CASH integrates with Flooring America’s CRM system and helps members to enhance customer satisfaction, he added.
But make no mistake; Flooring America’s technology prowess is not about being hip. Spano said that everything the company does is measurable. “We’ve been able to show (members) cost per lead to the stores and what the marketing ROI is.”

Where to next?

One battle the store has taken on aggressively is the fight against the home centers. “We’ve gone on the offense. People were conservative. Now that things are looking up and we’re hearing great things from the members and seeing it in numbers, there is momentum behind us. It’s time to go on the offense,” he said.

Spano said that the co-op is encouraging advertising and remodeling of showrooms. “We are changing the perception of the consumer. What we are hearing is that people want to buy local; they want to buy for the local retailer that supports the little league team. The beauty of the co-op is it keeps money within the community,” he said.

He pointed to a growth within the membership as one solid sign of an economic upturn. “Owners are opening new branch locations. Owners opening new branches are a great sign, a great barometer and this year we’ve seen an incredible wave of locations.” Spano explained that in a normal year, there would only be a couple of stores with the wherewithal to expand. This year, he said, it is close to 20 — and that’s just current member growth.

Even with some 500 store fronts, Flooring America/Canada is still looking to grow. Again, the company is taking a proactive stance by creating a Flooring America team dedicated to that goal.

“We have plenty of room to grow,” said Spano. “We are being selective so that we have the best dealer in every market. We are pretty much everywhere but not in North Dakota and Rhode Island. But we have 50 members in Canada and are always looking for the best retailers,” added Spano. The co-op’s recruitment website is www.Join.flooringamerica.com

“Our Advisory Council and our neighborhood network coordinators reinforce a compelling difference of Flooring America/Canada over all other groups and that is: It is a membership run by the members, for the members, and our member’s success is why we come to work every day and why we enjoy what we do,” he said. “One of the things that separate us is that our members are family — that’s a big difference. It’s a very personal relationship. Their success is our success. We take that very personally.”